Immersions
In most infusion cases, just adding the ingredient you’re trying to extract flavor from will do the trick. When doing so, don’t strain out the ingredient for at least 15 minutes, but ideally, wait an hour or more.
Peppers and Chiles
For a more robust flavor, you also have the option of putting the pepper or chile over a flame or under a broiler until the skin crackles. Lately, I’ve allowed my jalapeños to get properly scorched, but you don’t need to take it that far. To help yourself out in the straining department, just throw these into the pan whole. Scoring them with a knife will help the heat and flavor from the seeds get out. These spicy syrups are an obvious pair with tequila, mezcal, and even vodka but they surprise me in rum and whiskey drinks as well.
Herbs and Spices
You can add fresh herbs straight to the mixture, but they benefit from a longer immersion time. Spices can just be added to your personal taste, from cinnamon to celery salt to, yes, pumpkin spice, but toasting older spices in a dry skillet for a minute or two will do a wealth of good.
Berries and Citrus Peels
These ingredients require the most forethought, but once you work with them, you get the hang of it. Sprinkling berries and citrus peels with sugar helps pull the natural sugars and flavor out.
For berries, use a 4:1 berry to sugar ratio and macerate them with a splash of orange juice. Citrus peels can make syrup-like oleo saccharum all by themselves when covered in sugar and left alone, but this doesn’t yield a lot of volume. Using about half a cup of sugar for every three to four oranges, coat the peels. For the best results, leave these mixtures in the fridge for a day.
Adjust the amount of sugar for the simple syrup based on how much you used in prep and how much liquid you have from the fruits. You likely won’t need to add the berries to the pan, but you should add the peels.
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